Opening Day!

How awesome was that Nationals-Braves game last night? If you're the type of baseball fan who doesn't enjoy a pitching duel then this game wasn't for you and you would have done well to watch only the first and the ninth innings. What an ending. In case you missed it here's my rambling, stream-of-consciousness recap: Cristian Guzman led off the bottom of the first with a broken bat single -- the first ever hit at the new Nationals' Park. He was followed with a broken bat double (there were a lot of broken bats in this game) by Nick Johnson hitting third (I forget who hit second, whether it was the new guy from Tampa Bay or Lastings Milledge). This is great news for Nats fans because Guzman went out for the season early last year and Nick Johnson didn't play at all. In case you only remember the Cristian Guzman of 2005, he was actually having a decent year last year when he went down. Christina didn't believe me when I told her yesterday afternoon that I expected him to have a good year. While the Nick Johnson return is good news it's not necessarily going to be an improvement at first base over last year because Dmitri Young took his spot, had an OPS of .869, and was an all-star (Ken Tremendous would murder me for even mentioning that he was an all-star, but I'm mentioning it anyway). They will have a boost at pinch hitter, however. Anyway, back to the game. Johnson was then driven in by Austin Kearns. The only other scoring before the ninth inning was in the top of the fourth when Chipper Jones lined one over the left center wall for the first home run in Nationals' Park history. It probably would not have gone out in RFK and I get the feeling that I'll be thinking that to myself a lot this year. The guy who ended up with the home run ball looked as happy as a clam and all the while I was thinking to myself (maybe I was even saying it out loud) that he should throw it back like they do at Wrigley. Alas, he kept the ball. I probably would have done the same. I guess we'll have to come up with our own traditions. So it stood at 2-1 until the top of the ninth. The Braves got someone to third and I have no recollection of how. Jon Rauch threw a wild pitch -- or maybe it was a passed ball by new catcher/alleged steroid user Paul Lo Duca -- and the runner scored. Disappointing. Then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth the Legend of Ryan Zimmerman added a new chapter when he lined one just over the wall in left center. What a start, what a finish.